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Sometimes when catalogers examine a book, we find that parts of its structure use recycled materials from other books. These materials are often invisible, hidden away under outer coverings of paper or leather, and revealed only when an item is damaged or taken apart for conservation. But sometimes, the entire outer cover itself is made from…

Sometimes when catalogers examine a book, we find that parts of its structure use recycled materials from other books. These materials are often invisible, hidden away under outer coverings of paper or leather, and revealed only when an item is damaged or taken apart for conservation. But sometimes, the entire outer cover itself is made from…

The 1960 presidential election presented a quandary for Henry R. Luce, head of Time Inc., the largest publishing business in the world. A Republican whose aid had previously propelled Wendell Willkie and Dwight D. Eisenhower to the Republican nomination, he now had to choose between Richard Nixon and a man he admired but who stood for the…

In a set of early records from Westchester County is an unassuming reminder of the history of witchcraft in colonial New York. Although written in a daunting-to-read seventeenth century hand, the reminder is a statement dated September 5, 1670, acknowledging payment of fourteen pounds to a Katharine Harrison by Joseph Palmer, “fully and abessolutely” satisfying his debt….

Before New York State took over all New York City bus, trolley, and subway operations on June 15, 1953, the subway was controlled by private companies. The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) was the first to roll out an underground subway line in Manhattan on October 27, 1904, operating rails between City Hall and 145th Street. Frank…

Even in an age when we walk the streets believing in our ability to pull up all sorts of information on our smartphones, we can pause to appreciate the comprehensiveness, erudition, and wit of the AIA Guide to New York City. The encyclopedic guide celebrates its 50th birthday this year, as it was conceived to…

Gordon Guild Burris (1903–1988) was a Canadian-born civil engineer for the New York-based Turner Construction Company in the 1920s and ’30s. Among the iconic Manhattan structures he helped build are Bloomingdale’s (Lexington Avenue at 59th Street), the Hotel Lexington (511 Lexington Avenue), and the massive Port of New York Authority Commerce Building (111 Eighth Avenue), now home to Google’s New York…

Born in Germany on September 27, 1840, Thomas Nast moved to New York with his family as a young boy. While Nast did not excel in his studies, he did show a great deal of aptitude for drawing at an early age. By the time he was 12, Nast was enrolled as a student at…

This post is by AHMC Cataloger Noa Kasman. The American Historical Manuscript Collection (AHMC) includes a folder of material related to poet, dramatist, and philosopher, Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805), better known as Friedrich Schiller. While cataloging the collection, I was surprised to learn that Schiller’s monument was the very first in Central Park. It…

This post is by Ted O’Reilly, Curator & Head of the Manuscript Department Shoemaker John Azzimonti (1865-1946) was a “poet of the sole.” At least that’s how an article in the March 24, 1909 issue of Boot and Shoe Recorder (reprinted from the New York Herald) described him. Azzimonti was, by all accounts, a much sought-after…

This post (the second of two; read part one here) is by Sarah Levy, an intern at the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library, who is compiling a bibliography of Judaica printed in America from the early colonial period until the mid 1800s. Even though Jews made up a tiny percentage of the population of early America, this time period still boasts…